the shame of our prisons

[donsu]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3006309

Records show surge in sexual attacks in prisons


Sexual assaults in state prisons are up sharply, with hundreds of inmates reporting that they were attacked by cellmates or corrections officers.

The number of reported sexual assaults in Texas prisons has increased 160 percent, to 609 in 2004 from 234 in 2000, according to state records.

At least 129 Texas prisoners have alleged that they were raped or had sexual contact with corrections officers since 2000, the records show. Claims of inmate-on-inmate rape was even more frequent.

-snip-

However, inmate advocates said the problem is greater than the state figures show. They have begun a nationwide legal campaign against assaults and the complacency that they say allows them to flourish.

"I really have become convinced over the last three years or so that Texas is the prison-rape capital of the country," said Margaret Winter, a lawyer who represents two inmates who sued the prison system. "When prisoners report it, they are ignored, laughed at and often punished."
-snip-
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america is a crime scene

[Coastie for Truth]

1. Graner

is a Corrections Officer for the Pennsylvania Dept of Corrections.

A colleague - whose brother is a midwestern corrections officer - said that his brother told him Abu Ghraib is NOT an aberration - it is normal prison routine.

[sui generis]

2. it's an outgrowth of our culture

not the other way around. When someone is threatened with going to prison, the very first thing that people joke about is male rape.

Yes, America is a crime scene.

Rape is terrible in civil society and male rape is even marginally worse (by paternalistic standards) but it is a perfectly acceptable form of punishment in the big house.

[Bluerthanblue]

3. and the really tragic part

is that most 'Americans' don't care, or condone and even commend this reality. Because, "THEY" are 'bad guys/girls' .... animals, who 'deserve' what they get-

We're not the 'society' we pretend to be- not when we take a GOOD long look in our own mirror- we are every bit the 'evil-doers' that many of the countries we condemn are- except we CHOOSE to remain ignorant, and when the truth comes out, we condone and excuse our own behaviour-

Wrong is WRONG- regardless of 'who' is doing it-

Thanks for bringing up an issue most folks wouldn't give a second thought to-

[ernstbass]

4. Great post

[knowbody0]

5. abu ghraib

a mirror of our own prison conditions.

[Bluerthanblue]

6. it could also be said

that G.W has his own problem with 'rape rooms' that he seemed so fixated on about the Hussien regieme-

[WI Independent]

7. Unfortunately, this is only a symptom of the real problem...

The real problem is our prisons and the laws populating them are out of control.

Rape in prison and the general public's joking attitude toward it are inexcusable... even worse is it's only the tip of the iceberg...